CPSL Mind Annual Impact Report 2021-22

2021-22 Annual Impact Report

Reaching out to communities for better mental health

Reaching out

This was a year in which we broadened the reach of our services across the communities of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and built on our commitment to South Lincolnshire by investing in a dedicated development role; resulting in new projects and local collaboration.

Emerging from Covid-19 restrictions – with safety our priority – our staff and volunteer teams once again demonstrated their adaptability, resilience, and commitment to the continuity of our services.

While there is no doubting the importance of restoring face-to-face connections – the pandemic has shown how changes in the expectations of those whom we support can result in more flexible delivery styles that can increase reach and accessibility.

It has allowed the expansion of some services along with an extension into new locations for others; much of this continuing our strong culture of working in partnership with others. Illustrated further in this review:

• Our crisis support services expanded with the introduction of our daytime Sanctuary in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. In South Lincolnshire, we have worked with partners to pilot out-of-hours ‘Night Light’ cafes, which have since received longer-term NHS community mental health transformation investment.

• We secured funding to maintain and grow our innovative Discharge Buddy Service, which provides focused support to individuals following discharge either from an inpatient stay or Crisis Team intervention.

• We developed the NHS-funded peer support element of the new Community Personality Disorder service, which began in Peterborough and is now being expanded across Cambridgeshire.

• Our Good Life Service launched our Good Life Fund to support community-led wellbeing activity and we extended the Good Life Service provision in rural Peterborough, thanks to NHS Community Mental Health Transformation funding.

• Our STOP Suicide awareness campaign and training opportunities increased the suicide prevention knowledge skills and awareness across more than 30 diverse local organisations supporting individuals facing various life challenges. It was accompanied by a co-produced and innovative animated STOP Suicide film that encourages people to respond in a direct, helpful, and compassionate way if they are concerned someone they know may be feeling suicidal.

Looking forward, we are both excited and inspired by our new co-produced three-year strategy ‘Connecting across communities: for better mental health’ and our forward focus on three core strategic development areas of ‘Inclusion, Innovation and Influence.’ In response to the Climate Emergency, it also recognises our responsibilities in relation to protecting the natural environment together and the vital part that nature can play in supporting positive mental health.

Aly Anderson CEO

From the Chair

Launching our new strategy is part of our Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and

Food and mood

“Our group was jumping with good feelings like happiness because we've been accepted for the Good Life Fund. It meant a lot that we'd be able to come together, thanks to this application.” - Iveta Suna

After seeing a decline in wellbeing throughout the pandemic, Iveta was inspired to create a Food and Mood group to encourage learning something new, the benefits of good nutrition and the impact this has on improving mental health and self-care.

The group is run face-to-face at the local community centre or online on Zoom, with delivered

“Our group of ladies decided that with the pandemic, we needed to do something to improve our mental health. Food can impact our moods, so it was quite important from that period onwards to support each other. The impact on our community and members is massive,” says Iveta. “We're working together, we enjoy together and that is something positively passed on to all the community. We have built trust and become stronger together.”

South Lincolnshire

In an exciting development, based on our independent mental health consultation, we have stepped forward to establish a stronger presence in South Lincolnshire. One of the main aims is to build collaborative relationships to support all that is already strong in the area and potentially work with others to fill gaps in provision.

We began by launching new Good Mood Cafes - providing a safe place for anyone struggling with their mental health and for whom a friendly, listening ear would help. We also partnered with a 12-week pilot of winter Night Light Cafes accessed via the local crisis helpline. Our new Partnerships and Projects Manager, Lisa Gibson shares her thoughts; “It’s so important to be working collaboratively in the heart of communities, we have opened up new opportunities for people to meet others and share experiences. We have now launched our Good Life Fund to the area to empower individuals to take forward their own wellbeing ideas for community connectivity too.”

Peer support

Our range of Peer Support Groups helps connect individuals with others, who have experiences of low wellbeing, personality disorder and hearing voices, to form supportive bonds with people who understand first-hand what they are feeling. Nik Smith talks about his experience with our peer support and how this has impacted his life positively.

“It was refreshing to know that I’m not alone with the issues I’m trying to deal with. There are things we could speak about where we all understand each other, and I don’t have to worry about any judgment. It enabled me to look at why I get so angry, breaking everything down - like having a meal - you couldn’t eat a whole plate in one go. Trying to deal with it all at once makes me uptight, flustered and frustrated: this has given me the tools to break it down and to realise I can do that. I’ve been able to start to repair quite a few bridges with family. My life has been like a roller coaster for many years, and it’s like having a crash mat - it doesn’t matter what happens, you’ve got people there with open arms that will help that landing. You know even if you’re still going to land on your behind a little bit – it won’t be the full force. I had a lot of reservations before I came. My only regret is I didn’t do it sooner in life.”

Our Starting Well project

Moving forward on the next stage of our project with The Lantern Initiative, our local partners who work within Peterborough’s Muslim communities, we have focused on three common themes identified in our Insight Report from our earlier work together.

Exploring the strengths, skills and assets available, we moved into the 'Make' phase of our Service Design process, piloting our Connecting Muslim Mums courses focusing on mental health experiences and managing wellbeing during this vital perinatal period.

Mums attending told us that the six-week programme has appealed to them for a number of reasons; exploring wellbeing while acknowledging their faith, being able to talk openly and better understanding self-care.

“The way they ran the course, explained things to me, so gently, she made me see things differently, make it easier to understand myself.”

We now plan to increase our Muslim Mum Peer Support Groups too. At the same time, we are working with professionals and communities on signposting mums to other services to support them and tackling removing the stigma of asking for help and support both professionally and at home.

“I felt I belonged, you know, and I felt part of something, I felt that people were interested and that's a big thing.”

Supporting new mums

'Just Ask' animation

The STOP Suicide campaign builds public awareness and understanding about ‘asking directly about suicide’ and that suicide is ‘everybody’s business.’

Our ‘Just Ask’ animation was launched on World Suicide Prevention Day 2021. It captures elements of STOP Suicide training, including safety planning, supporting somebody else and how to look after yourself - in one engaging, safe-to-use public resource.

The film received nearly 1,200 online views, and more than 3,000 unique users visited stopsuicidepledge.org for additional information during the month of campaigning.

Our Campaign Makers, supporters and eleven partners worked with us to share information while local media shared Cindy De Costa's story.

Cindy, who has been volunteering as a Campaign Maker after hearing a talk at university, tells how she supported a man in his 20s; “I had suicidal

“It was the first time I had talked to someone face to face like that. I was nervous. But I just thought about me when I was younger and how happy I would have been to have a conversation with someone like this when I was at my lowest.”

Wellbeing Together

Working with the charity Living Sport, we devised and delivered a new community focused wellbeing training programme. Strategic Lead, Christine Sprowell at Living Sport, talks about our positive work engaging communities together:

“Wellbeing Together worked to support volunteers and staff from community organisations to develop the skills and knowledge to support and improve the wellbeing of their community members. The training provided delegates with skills to support those around them, to signpost to appropriate help while also taking care of their own mental health and wellbeing. We were delighted to partner with CPSL Mind and their trainers on this programme, their approach to collaboration and delivery has been of the highest quality. Regular reviews of course content ensured we maintained a positive learning environment and developed the course to include STOP Suicide training too.”

Delegates share their feedback:

Mentally healthy workplaces

In a response to post-pandemic workplace change our Training Team continue to work flexibly and supportively with organisations and businesses to increase mental health knowledge and skill.

Our new training ‘Managing mental health in a hybrid workplace’, is an evidence-based course designed for the future workplace. Recognising that hybrid working is here to stay, the course highlights the challenges that this brings and enables professionals to recognise signs of workplace stress. Participants can establish strategies to keep hybrid teams engaged and learn what reasonable adjustments look like for colleagues, all whilst supporting staff’s wellbeing.

Our Head of Training, Jo Clarke, says, "We're proud of being trailblazers in mental health education for organisations and responding to this emerging need by building on our knowledge and expertise. We felt it important to create a training resource which addresses issues that not only we experienced, but many other businesses have too."

“I think it's probably one of the best training sessions I've done in my working career. That's how strongly I feel about it.”

“I have to say, I found the programme absolutely amazing! I cannot advocate enough for it.”

Our impact

During 2021/22, we supported more than 4,300 people and provided approximately:

• 20,500 hours of one-to-one support to more than 2,500 people.

• 2,100 hours of group activities for 900 people.

• 2,000 hours of online support to 700 people via the digital service provided by Qwell.

• Helped resource 18 community-based wellbeing activities via our Good Life Fund, reaching more than 200 people across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

• This year we trained more than 500 people in suicide prevention skills, spanning 30 diverse organisations.

175 hours of ad hoc listening support via our general enquiries telephone line.

Directed more than 14,500 visitors to our stopsuicidepledge.org website via our innovative animated STOP Suicide film, outdoor advertising, and social media campaigns.

• Raised public awareness of mental health issues with more than 60 TV, radio, online and print interviews and articles.

450 hours of training and workshops attended by 1,550 participants.

“I now feel like a different person. I have made great progress.”

“In all my years of struggling with mental health problems, I have never felt so understood and validated for my difficult experiences.”

Fundraising thank you

Your fundraising efforts and donations help us to support the mental health of local people, and we want to say a heartfelt thank you!

Because of you, we can enhance our services and develop new initiatives to continue positively changing lives across our communities.

We are delighted to partner closely with companies and organisations that fundraise and collaborate with us, sharing skills and knowledge to support better mental health.

Your stories and challenges are a real inspiration, and we are so proud of every individual who has chosen to give to our cause.

We could not achieve what we do without your support

• Jeff Thorley

• David Atkin

• Stephen Whitney

• Minds in Action Campaign

• Melbourn FC

• St Neots Golf Club

Fundraising targets smashed

at the 2022 TTP Cambridge Half Marathon

A grey morning start on 6th March turned out to be a spectacular event day for our CPSL Mind team of over 40 runners taking part in this year’s TTP Cambridge Half Marathon, where an outstanding £19,000 was raised to support our local mental health services.

Cycle Santa Sit-up for fundraising!

Rutland Cycles continued their support of CPSL Mind when Santa took to his bike in December 2021 and pedalled the streets of Cambridge raising funds and awareness for us.

Starting at our Cambridge offices, the company’s Raleigh E-cargo bike made its way across Jesus Green and into the town centre, with Santa giving out presents to passers-by and entering them into a prize draw to win a brand-new bike.

Nathan Reeves did not sit still for long as he attempted to do 3,000 sit-ups and 3,000 push-ups throughout February to regain his fitness and raise funds. This month-long burst of energy promoting positive mental health and raising funds for our charity, a cause close to Nathan’s heart, after knowing others with mental health challenges and losing friends to suicide.

Speaking of his fitness drive, Nathan says, “I have decided to get back into fitness and to challenge myself physically, but also to raise valuable awareness for two charities and to enable people to get talking and hopefully end the stigma around mental health.”

Making it happen

Contact Us

General Enquiries

For general enquiries please call 0300 303 4363 from Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5.30pm (excluding Bank Holidays) or email enquiries@cpslmind.org.uk

Address

Barrere House, 100 Chesterton Road, Cambridge, CB4 1ER

Ground Floor, Kings Chambers, 39-41

Priestgate, Peterborough, PE1 1JL

Website

www.cpslmind.org.uk

We are an independent charity and part of the Local Mind Network, sharing quality standards, branding and knowledge. We support adults (18-plus) experiencing mental health problems across Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire. We promote positive mental health for all, via campaigns and awareness raising, guided self-help, early intervention and projects that connect communities and build resilience.